OP
OP
Giant Octopodes
Well-known member
The idea as well that he has hit his ceiling is just absolutely ridiculous. There's two ways to take that, and neither of them work:
1) He CAN'T improve. It's physically impossible for him to develop a stronger arm, to improve his athleticism or pocket presence, accuracy, throwing mechanics, or timing. It's mentally impossible for him to learn and grow, to better understand the offense, his receivers, the defensive players around the league, schemes and tendencies, or situational football. Despite playing only a dozen games in his career, it's IMPOSSIBLE for him to ever get better before he retires. Obviously such an assertion is rubbish. No one is ever a finished product. We improve via effort and experience, and the amount of both poured into him as a football player will grow, not shrink, over time. Ergo, he can improve.
2) He WON'T improve. Despite it being possible, he's at the peak of his career. Even though he went from a passer rating of 87.1 in his first 4 games to a passer rating of 111.7 in his last 4, and despite it being possible for him to improve, he won't any further. The greatest coach of all time? Doesn't matter, wasted on him. His universally praised intelligence and work ethic? It'll amount to nothing, his progress will stop immediately. The roster surrounding him? It'll never perform above its current level. This to me is the even more insane assertion, as it flies directly in the face of all available evidence. It's like watching a fire spread and saying as the kitchen goes up "yeah but it won't spread any further from here". As Chevs said, we've seen nothing BUT improvement, why on Earth would we think it'll stop now?
Just look at Josh Allen. These comments from Belichick: “Where it was three years ago, completion percentage, passer rating, decision making, production, it has just gone up. It’s risen at a really remarkable rate. It’s just remarkable how good he has become. Last year, this year, he’s built on that, what it was when he came into the league, but he’s really made tremendous improvement and has a lot of command of the offense … He doesn’t get fooled much by anything. It’s really, really impressive to watch how he’s developed there.” What evidence is there that coaches around the league won't be saying exactly the same thing about Mac Jones 3 years from now? Which, considering how much better he is than Josh Allan as a rookie, is understandably terrifying to the rest of the league, but even with that the idea he's hit his ceiling is a fantasy bordering on delusion. All they're really saying is "I sure Hope he doesn't improve further, or else my team is in a lot of trouble!"
This is not a video game. Players aren't balanced against each other. Just because one is way stronger out of the gate, doesn't mean his growth attributes get nerfed or an artificial ceiling gets imposed to ensure all other choices are equally viable. Do you know the rookie who has had the single greatest improvement between his first 4 games and most recent 4 games? I honestly had no idea, so I looked it up. Trevor Lawrence, the #1 overall pick, went from a passer rating average of 67.9 in his first 4 games to 69.6 in his most recent 4 (an improvement of 1.7 points). Zach Wilson went from an average of 64.9 to a whopping 73.1, an improvement of 8.2 points. The rest of the rookies can't even make it into the starting lineup. But yeah, Mac Jones, who went from 87.1 to 111.7, an improvement of 24.6 points, is the one who can't or won't improve.
1) He CAN'T improve. It's physically impossible for him to develop a stronger arm, to improve his athleticism or pocket presence, accuracy, throwing mechanics, or timing. It's mentally impossible for him to learn and grow, to better understand the offense, his receivers, the defensive players around the league, schemes and tendencies, or situational football. Despite playing only a dozen games in his career, it's IMPOSSIBLE for him to ever get better before he retires. Obviously such an assertion is rubbish. No one is ever a finished product. We improve via effort and experience, and the amount of both poured into him as a football player will grow, not shrink, over time. Ergo, he can improve.
2) He WON'T improve. Despite it being possible, he's at the peak of his career. Even though he went from a passer rating of 87.1 in his first 4 games to a passer rating of 111.7 in his last 4, and despite it being possible for him to improve, he won't any further. The greatest coach of all time? Doesn't matter, wasted on him. His universally praised intelligence and work ethic? It'll amount to nothing, his progress will stop immediately. The roster surrounding him? It'll never perform above its current level. This to me is the even more insane assertion, as it flies directly in the face of all available evidence. It's like watching a fire spread and saying as the kitchen goes up "yeah but it won't spread any further from here". As Chevs said, we've seen nothing BUT improvement, why on Earth would we think it'll stop now?
Just look at Josh Allen. These comments from Belichick: “Where it was three years ago, completion percentage, passer rating, decision making, production, it has just gone up. It’s risen at a really remarkable rate. It’s just remarkable how good he has become. Last year, this year, he’s built on that, what it was when he came into the league, but he’s really made tremendous improvement and has a lot of command of the offense … He doesn’t get fooled much by anything. It’s really, really impressive to watch how he’s developed there.” What evidence is there that coaches around the league won't be saying exactly the same thing about Mac Jones 3 years from now? Which, considering how much better he is than Josh Allan as a rookie, is understandably terrifying to the rest of the league, but even with that the idea he's hit his ceiling is a fantasy bordering on delusion. All they're really saying is "I sure Hope he doesn't improve further, or else my team is in a lot of trouble!"
This is not a video game. Players aren't balanced against each other. Just because one is way stronger out of the gate, doesn't mean his growth attributes get nerfed or an artificial ceiling gets imposed to ensure all other choices are equally viable. Do you know the rookie who has had the single greatest improvement between his first 4 games and most recent 4 games? I honestly had no idea, so I looked it up. Trevor Lawrence, the #1 overall pick, went from a passer rating average of 67.9 in his first 4 games to 69.6 in his most recent 4 (an improvement of 1.7 points). Zach Wilson went from an average of 64.9 to a whopping 73.1, an improvement of 8.2 points. The rest of the rookies can't even make it into the starting lineup. But yeah, Mac Jones, who went from 87.1 to 111.7, an improvement of 24.6 points, is the one who can't or won't improve.
